2nd Degree Gopher
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- Nov 26, 2008
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Scrimmage observations. Thought I’d add a few of my own thoughts from yesterday. I don’t have anything to add to the description of the on-field action others have made. While I intended to use the opportunity to watch players, probe the depth chart, etc., I repeatedly caught myself just looking around and taking in the sights.
I can’t get over how proud I was all day of what my University has built and how much attention there has been to detail. I am sure there will be bugs to work out, but this is going to change the game day experience for me and my family profoundly and I am so thankful.
Getting to and from our lot on the north side of TCF was seamless and I’m optimistic that arrivals will be spread out enough that traffic won’t be too bad on game days, but the crowd was pretty small (my guess is less than 15,000 but it was hard to tell with all the milling around) and my lot was less than half full.
Tailgated for about an hour before the scrimmage and planned to stay a bit afterwards, but were told by a very polite and apologetic campus police officer that they were “shutting down” tailgating one hour after the scrimmage. I joked that the sign said we could stay until midnight and he told me that, if we wanted, we could stay into the evening, but we had to stop drinking alcohol. He assured me that for Air Force, we “could be here practically all day.”
A small crew of student-employees came around to the tailgate lot, gave us a list of the rules, a special bag for recyclables and advised that we could just leave the bag out by the car and they would pick it up. (Which they did.)
Seemed to be an ample number of trash and recycling receptacles, port-a-potties, etc.
Heard again that they hope to expand the food options over the coming years to include more restaurants with a presence, but no specific details.
On the visitor side, the maroon seats were hot to the touch while the gold seats were merely a little warm. (Gotta love the sun.)
Restrooms are huge. The radio broadcast was piped in, but I didn’t see any video monitors.
The area above the second level is an accessible and open walkway. While there were no concessions or restrooms, this will be a great place to meet people, stretch your legs, let the little kids wander, etc.
The Goldy’s Locker Room store was very large, but it will be difficult to navigate on game days. Looked to be some nice new products (rain ponchos $5.00!) and more will be coming.
The plaza area is a real gem and will be a great place to congregate before the game, right in the middle of our three primary athletic venues.
I can’t get over how proud I was all day of what my University has built and how much attention there has been to detail. I am sure there will be bugs to work out, but this is going to change the game day experience for me and my family profoundly and I am so thankful.
Getting to and from our lot on the north side of TCF was seamless and I’m optimistic that arrivals will be spread out enough that traffic won’t be too bad on game days, but the crowd was pretty small (my guess is less than 15,000 but it was hard to tell with all the milling around) and my lot was less than half full.
Tailgated for about an hour before the scrimmage and planned to stay a bit afterwards, but were told by a very polite and apologetic campus police officer that they were “shutting down” tailgating one hour after the scrimmage. I joked that the sign said we could stay until midnight and he told me that, if we wanted, we could stay into the evening, but we had to stop drinking alcohol. He assured me that for Air Force, we “could be here practically all day.”
A small crew of student-employees came around to the tailgate lot, gave us a list of the rules, a special bag for recyclables and advised that we could just leave the bag out by the car and they would pick it up. (Which they did.)
Seemed to be an ample number of trash and recycling receptacles, port-a-potties, etc.
Heard again that they hope to expand the food options over the coming years to include more restaurants with a presence, but no specific details.
On the visitor side, the maroon seats were hot to the touch while the gold seats were merely a little warm. (Gotta love the sun.)
Restrooms are huge. The radio broadcast was piped in, but I didn’t see any video monitors.
The area above the second level is an accessible and open walkway. While there were no concessions or restrooms, this will be a great place to meet people, stretch your legs, let the little kids wander, etc.
The Goldy’s Locker Room store was very large, but it will be difficult to navigate on game days. Looked to be some nice new products (rain ponchos $5.00!) and more will be coming.
The plaza area is a real gem and will be a great place to congregate before the game, right in the middle of our three primary athletic venues.